Question 1By Kyran Wright

In which ways does your media

products use, develop or

challenge forms & conventions of

Media Products?

Early researchThe most effective way for me to research the conventions of a short film was to watch as many videos as I could. I used the video platform site YouTube. I found this site highly relevant to me because it shows a wide array of short films, including creations by students, amateurs, and professionals. From watching a range of different levels of short films I understood what was expected of me in terms of quality. Through seeing other student short films, I could easily identify the flaws in their films and made me more ambitious to create a short film that had a good flow, and was not too complex in terms of narrative.

Early ResearchI found that most short films created were directed towards a more niche audience. They normally fell under the category of Drama. The events shown were set in everyday situations so that the audience could relate. Many were very realistic, and can fall under the category of social realism.

Early ResearchEquipment used is often very basic, normally only a single camera due to small budgets, and there is no CGI. A voice over or narration is frequently used in order to keep the audience up to speed, it is used in a similar way to a prologue of a book, or preface of a play.

What I didAfter watching a lot of short films, I decided to create a film in the experimental drama, as I wanted to break the conventions of a typical short film. I wanted to create something that I, or my audience, had never seen before. I wanted to do this to create a real shock value, and make my audience think.

Many of the short films of the experimental genre I had seen were either haute couture motion editorials or music videos. I decided to emulate these styles and use music throughout my piece, rather than dialogue.

A lot of the short films I watched had very simple locations, and the producers obviously knew a lot about what their films were about. Because of this, I decided to make a list of topics that I am interested in and knew about.

SoundThere is very little speech in my short film, I decided to do this because I wanted the emotions and story to be played out through music and lyrics. I decided to do this because I wanted my short film to inform the audience on each of the mental disorders. So I decided that to make it generic and stereotypical, my audience would not have been quite as informed.

SoundI used various music throughout my short film- a slow, emotional rock ballad in the first act, an electropop/new wave song with over-lapping songs playing to make the sufferers mind seem more chaotic, and a slow, tense synth to build tension throughout the piece. I used different tracks in each act to show how the different mental disorder are completely different from each other.

SoundIn most short films, music is not deemed important. I have challenged this stereotype as I highly disagree. I believe that music can change an audiences feelings, and can sometimes be even more effective than the visuals in telling the story.

I believe that I have made good use of music in my short film, and it is much more effective than that heard usually in other short films.

Camera workWhen filming I decided I did not want to use complicated shots, and kept most shots to half length shots, and close up shots. I made this decision because it shows a lot more emotion. I did not use complicated shots as this was one of the biggest flaws I found in student short films. In my opening scene, I used an extreme close up of a mans lips, I wanted to do this to make the character seem more enigmatic, and also to make the audience slightly intrigued.

Camera workI decided against using any establishing or long shots in my short film as I feel this would have taken the emotion away from the piece, and was not necessary in the plot. Throughout my piece, the camera work is at differing speeds (Slow for depression, mid-length for Anorexia, and relatively quick for Dissociative Identity Disorder), I made this decision to highlight the differences between each disorder, and to make each piece more tense than the last.

During creation, I was taught the importance of capturing a lot of footage when you shoot a scene to make sure that you have enough footage to edit with.

EditingDuring the editing stage, I found it was a lot of work as I had to learn how to use the editing software iMovie. Most of my transitions are invisible as I did not want to distract the audience with strange transitions. I believe that because invisible transitions are a convention of short films, it makes my short film look more professional.

Conventions of a short film

Characters are an obvious convention. Short films normally stick to 2 or 3 characters. My short film features 3 actors, but 4 characters. Short films do not have to go into intense detail, therefore the characters are what is seen on the surface in order for the audience to connect with the characters in a small amount of time.

For example, the short film series Love, Kills xx only uses one main character throughout, but has a couple of background characters in each episode.

Conventions of a short film

Storyline- A short film normally follows a storyline with a beginning, twist and solution. I challenge this convention by not having a storyline. I instead show disharmony and focus on what is going on internally for the person, rather than externally. I show what is going on internally in a very artistically visual and musical way. This is similar to music videos, as they have no clear storyline such as Lady Gaga “Bad Romance”.

Conventions of a short film

Entertainment- Short films are often only made to supply entertainment to the audience. I wanted to create a piece that would educate my audience and make them think, but also make them think about how they view mental disorders, and how they view women. I also wanted to make my audience feel slightly uncomfortable and vulnerable, in order to make them keep concentration throughout. This is similar to the “Love, Kills xx” short film series.